


Unexpected Love

by Youknowit



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alexandra just needs a hug, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, George Washington is a Dad, Hurt No Comfort, Modern AU, Sorry Not Sorry, Thomas Jefferson is not a complete jerk, Washingdad, gender swap, lots of fluff, not historically accurate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:14:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29871744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Youknowit/pseuds/Youknowit
Summary: Alexandra Hamilton has had it rough. First her father left, then her mother and her cousin died, then the hurricane came and took the lives of the few friends she had. Everyone she has known has left her and now she is alone. Sent to America by her now dead cousin, 12 year old Alexandra struggles to find her place in this new and unfamiliar country. Will she finally find a family she can call her own?
Relationships: Alexandra Hamilton & George Washington - Relationship, Alexandra Hamilton/Thomas Jefferson, George Washington/Martha Washington
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First 5 or 6 chapters are kinda depressing and have child abuse (both physical and verbally) and some depression/self-degrading. Translations at the end of the chapter. Also, idea credit goes to The_Token_Straight_Friend. Thank you for letting me run with this!

Ten year old Alexandra Hamilton huffed a breath as she pushed a strand of her long reddish-brown hair away from her face. She was lying face down on her bed trying to finish her homework that was due next week. Her head jerked up when she heard the sound of something breaking which was followed by shouting. Alex bit her lip as she recognized the two voices as her parents. For some reason they had been arguing more and more, and now even the smallest thing would set them off. It was mainly her dad who started it and then it escalated as her mom got defensive which in turn made her dad get defensive. It never ended well. Usually her dad would just leave for the bar, come back drunk and in a rage, and proceed to take his anger out on either Alex or her mother.

As predicted, she heard her father growl and then stomping and finally the front door being yanked open and slammed shut. Alex swallowed hard, glancing at the clock. Typically he would be gone for about forty minutes and then come back.

Alexandra released a deep breath and turned back to her homework. She had to get it done and hidden away before her father came home and ripped all of it up. Paper was hard to come by for her, as her family didn’t exactly have the money to pay for it.

She heard the door creak open as her mom came in to check on her. The whole routine was so familiar it was sickening.

“Hey, sweetheart,” her mom said softly, walking over to sit next to Alex on the bed.

“Salut, maman” Alex replied, her tone a bit flat but laced with resignation for what would come that night.

“How are you holding up?” Her mom tried for a brave smile.

Alex swallowed, forcing back the fear that threatened to show through her violet eyes. “I’m fine. Dad gone?”

Her mom’s smile faltered. “Yes. Why don’t you leave in about thirty minutes and come back late tonight after your father falls asleep?”

Alexandra shuddered. “Non. Last time I tried that I got a worse beating than I would have if I had just stayed.” They both stayed silent at that. They were stuck in a vicious cycle that never seemed to end. “Well, I should probably finish my homework before dad gets back.”

Her mother sighed and nodded. “Alright. I’m going to get dinner ready.” With that, she kissed Alex on the head and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

Forty minutes later, like clockwork, her father stormed back into the house, slamming the door behind him.

Alex scrambled to collect her work and quickly shoved it all under the bed. She was just in time. The door to her room flung open and in stomped a very intoxicated James Hamilton. Her throat hitched as she saw the crazy look in his eyes which landed on her. No matter how many times she saw that look, it never ceased to scare her.

“You,” her father snarled. “This is all your fault.” Alarm bells rang in her head. This was different. He had never said anything preceding a beating before. It was just a silent fit and the beating was over within a few minutes with no lasting damage besides bruised ribs.

Alex swallowed hard and scooted into the far corner of the bed, curling up into a ball. “I’m sorry,” she squeaked. She didn’t even know what she was apologizing for. She just knew that something she had done had upset her father.

“You worthless piece of junk. All you do is just sit around and do nothing while I work tirelessly to provide for you. You can’t even do anything for yourself.” He stalked closer and grabbed Alexandra hair, pulling her off the bed and throwing her onto the floor. Alex couldn’t help the cry of pain that escaped her as her.

Her father was breathing heavily by now. He kicked her in the stomach. “It’s your fault that my business deal fell through. If you hadn’t been born I would have gotten the job and therefore could have gotten my hands on those papers and my client could have gotten them today! But now I’m stuck with stealing again.” He kicked her again, giving into his rage.

“Maybe if you would stop drinking and actually sober up, then maybe you wouldn’t keep getting rejected from jobs! It’s not my fault!” Alex snapped back. As soon as the words left her mouth she regretted them. Her father’s face went rigid and stone cold. A chill slithered down her spine and she gulped. Now she really was in for it.

“Oh? Are you insinuating it’s my fault?” His voice was deadly calm despite being drunk.

Alexandra shook her head frantically, trying to squirm away from the man towering over her. “No! Désolé! I didn’t mean it like that. You’re right. It’s all my fault.”

Her father bared his teeth. “That’s right. All. Your. Fault.” He grabbed her by her throat and lifted her up before slamming her against the wall and letting her drop. Alex held back a sob but couldn’t stop the gag that forced its way out. Why couldn’t she keep her loud mouth shut? Maybe it was her fault. Maybe she should just accept that all of her father’s problems were her fault. 

“You’re pathetic.” Her father kicked her a couple more times before storming back out of the room.

Alexandra took in a ragged breath, wincing at the sharp pain in her chest. Gently putting a hand to her ribs, she bit her lip as a stab of pain shot through her. Yup. Definitely a broken rib. She sniffled quietly but lay where she was. This was the worst one yet. Sure it didn't last as long, but he’d never broken anything before, and by jove did a broken rib hurt. As she lay there, she heard her father raging at her mother before a loud but muffled thump against the house’s front door. Her mother was pleading with James about something, but Alexandra was too disoriented and in too much pain to be able to understand. There was more scuffling, then, once again, the front door opened and slammed shut. Was he going for another drink? But he just got back!

It wasn’t long before her mother opened the door to Alex’s room, her eyes wet with tears. “Oh, honey! I’m so sorry!” she sobbed, kneeling beside me.

“Where’s Papa?” Alex croaked, fearing the worst.

Her mother took in a shuddering breath before looking at her. “He’s gone. He packed up his things and left. He’s not coming back.” She started crying again. Alex didn’t know whether to cry or be relieved that he was gone. On one hand, she was glad because the last few years had been torture because of him and his temper. On the other hand, the only father she had ever know had just walked out and it was all her fault.

Translations:  
salut, maman: hi, mommy  
Non: no  
Désolé = I’m sorry


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It has now been two years since Alexandra's father abandoned her and her mother, and life was going great... until tragedy strikes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all don't hate me for this chapter. I almost cried writing it, so I guess I'm a little sorry for writing this? Sorry it's a bit depressing, but Alexander Hamilton had a very depressing childhood, so therefore Alexandra will too. heh heh. Anyway, I couldn't wait to post it, so here you go :)

Two Years Later  
Life was going fine for twelve year old Alexandra. When her father had packed up and left nearly two years ago, it had been a hard couple months as she and her mother began to slowly slip into a daily routine. Alex continued to go to school during the day, but then would go straight to work at a trading charter company, and then come home and do homework late into the night. The company had been in desperate need of help when she went and interviewed for it since their previous hired hand had quit. At first they were hesitant to hire a ten year old, but after interviewing Alex, they found her to be very intelligent and very organized, so they hired her right then. The pay wasn’t great, but, combined with her mother’s income, it was just enough to keep a small amount of food on the table plus a little extra. This went on for two years, both mother and daughter trying to save enough up to one day escape the island. However, for Alexandra, nothing good lasts forever, and it came on so quickly. An outbreak of yellow fever had hit her small town hard, but so far Alexandra and her mother had avoided contracting it.

It was around ten o’clock at night when Alex got back from work. She unlocked the front door of their house and walked in, quietly shutting the door. She frowned a bit at the silence. Normally her mom was still moving around in the kitchen, waiting to eat with Alex so she wouldn’t eat alone. Alex shrugged. Her mom must have had a busy day and either went to bed early (if you call 10 pm early) or ended up staying late to finish things up at her shop.

“Maman?” Alexandra called from the doorway, pulling off her shoes and discarding them to the side. She figured her mother was still gone but decided that she would check her mother’s room just in case she was sleeping. Alex walked over to her mother’s room and knocked softly, opening the door. Alex gasped when she saw her lying on the bed, a bucket on the floor.

“Maman!” She rushed to her mother’s side, knelt next to her mother, and put her hand on the older woman’s forehead which she found to be burning with fever.

“Alex,” her mother croaked. “You need to stay away.”

“What? No! I have to take care of you! You have to get better!” Alex blinked back tears. No one she knew who had gotten sick with yellow fever had survived it. To her, it was a death sentence. “I can’t lose you.”

Her mother coughed then vomited into the bucket beside her bed. “And I can’t be the reason you catch this disease.”

Alex’s lips tightened and she walked out of the room to the kitchen, quickly finding a cup and filling it with water. She had to help her mother get better. If her mother died, Alex would be all alone. No, letting her mother die was not an option.

Alex took a deep breath and walked back into her mother’s room, cup in hand. “I’m not going to stand to the side and watch you die. I’m going to make sure you get better,” Alex said, determined to not let this fever take her mother. She helped her mother sit up a bit and put the water to her mother’s lips, helping her drink.

It was only a day and a half later when Alex herself started to feel the symptoms of the fever. Dread pooled in her stomach. She still had so much she wanted to do! She didn’t have the time to be sick. She had to work, do school, and take care of her mother, who was worsening with every day. Alexandra left a note for her manager saying that she wouldn’t be able to come in for a week because she wasn’t feeling well. She didn’t specify that it was yellow fever symptoms, but she figured he probably would guess that it was anyway.

Alex quickly succumbed to the illness and was bedridden. She lay in bed with her mother, who was currently running her fingers through Alex’s hair. Her mother hadn’t thrown up recently, but it was most likely because there was nothing in her stomach to throw up.

A week passed like this until one morning she awoke feeling better but drenched in sweat. She turned her head around to face her other, who was still holding her, only to see that her mother’s face had become pale.

“Maman?” Alex whispered hoarsely, shaking her mother desperately when there was no response. “Maman! Wake up! Please! Don’t leave me like dad did! You have to stay here! You can’t go!” 

Alex sobbed and shakily took her mother’s wrist to try to find a pulse. Nothing. Her mother had died during the night, holding tightly onto Alex. Alex turned her back to her other, pulled her mother’s arms tightly around her as though she was being hugged from behind by her mother, and snuggled close. Alex could almost pretend that her mother was just sleeping except for the fact that her mother’s arms were cold and stiff. Tears fell from Alex’s eyes as she laid there, unable to form any thoughts other than she was now alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might start posting twice a week depending on whether I keep up my writing speed. I already have chapter 5 almost done because my mind decided it didn't want to focus on my school paper and only think about think book. Go figure.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexandra just can't catch a break. A week has passed since her mother left her alone, but life just can't give Alex a break.

A week passed before her fever broke. Alex slowly began to get her strength back over the course of another week. Numbly, she told herself that she had to find someone to help take care of her mother’s body. She felt as though she was just drifting through life with no purpose. She was stuck on an island, and the last living relative she knew of was dead. Well, besides Peter. Maybe she would be sent to live with him. Or would she stay here? She wasn’t sure she wanted to. This place that used to hold fond memories from her childhood was now tainted by her mother’s death. Alex couldn’t look anywhere without seeing her mother in things.  
When Alex was finally able to walk around the house without shaking like a newborn calf, she went outside and walked to one of the neighbor’s houses to ask them to help her either move the body or tell her where she could find someone to do it. Of course, when she asked her neighbors for help, then just told her where she could find someone. She mentally shrugged. She wouldn’t want to be around the body of someone who had died of the deadly disease either. So off she went to find help. It took her a good half hour to find the person, and she did, he helped her quickly take the body out of the house and put it on a cart from him to later take care of. Alex leaned down and kissed her mother’s forehead one last time before stepping back and watching him drive away, tears blurring her vision.  
For the next week, Alex restarted her daily routine: wake up, go to school, then straight to work, come home at night and do homework, maybe get something to eat, go to bed, repeat. Through it all, Alex could only drag herself around. How was she supposed to recover from just losing her mother? Alex felt as if she was always on the brink of tearing up, but she always managed to push them away. All she had to do was push forward. Maybe someday she would leave the island and leave everything behind, not that she had anything to leave behind anyway. She had the house, but she doubted that it would be hers for much longer when the landlord came to collect rent.  
After only a week of live going back to as normal as it could ever be, her life was once again turned upside down. She had been working ever since school got out that afternoon, so she hadn’t payed much attention to the weather outside. She didn’t notice the winds picking up or the rain pouring heavily. She was so intent on catching up with everything that she had missed over the week she had been sick that she was grateful for the slowness. It never occurred to her that the weather would be a reason until a gust of wind blew so hard it shook the house. Alex jerked her head up, looking out the window. She frowned. Hopefully it let up before tonight so she wouldn’t have to walk home in this. But it only got worse. Before she knew it, water was flooding the streets, and houses were being flattened and splintered into pieces, which were carried away with the high-speed winds and fast flooding water. She shivered. If this continued on, it might do the same to this building, which was somehow standing and intact. After what seemed like hours, the winds finally died down and Alex let out a sigh. She had no idea how she would get home with the streets flooded with a couple feet of water. There was no way she was going to be able to make it a couple blocks to her house if it was even still standing. Every house around had taken a heavy beating, and Alex was willing to bet that they were flooded as well.  
“Alexandra!” She heard her employer, Rob, call out from the back.  
“Yes?” she replied, looking at him as he emerged from the back room.  
“You should go home before the storm starts up again.”  
“But how am I supposed to go home in these conditions?” Alex asked, perplexed. He wasn’t really going to make her go home, right? Wrong.  
He shrugged. “You can swim, yes? I don’t want you here when the hurricane comes again.”  
Alexandra stared at him in disbelief. “But-“  
“No buts. Go home,” he stated firmly.  
Alex swallowed. He really was going to make her go home in this. Jerk. She thought about telling him so, but then thought better of it. She did still want a job when this was over.  
“Okay,” she said weakly. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”  
“No. You stay home until the water drains enough where you can walk through and not have to swim.” Rob told her, lips pursed tightly  
“But I can’t go that long without work!” Alex protested.  
“You’re going to have to. Don’t go out the door or else you’ll let in all that water. Go upstairs, open a window, and climb out that way. You can leave your backpack here so it won’t weigh you down or get wet.”  
With that, he picked up Alex’s backpack and set it behind the counter. A stunned Alex turned towards the stairs to go out through a window so as not to flood the building with the water that would undoubtedly come rushing in if she opened the door. Her brows knitted together in anger. Why couldn’t he let her stay here? How on this good earth did he think it was a good idea to send a twelve year old kid through what was likely four or five feet of water to go back to a house that might not even be standing? Idiot. At least he let her keep her backpack here. Alex got to the top of the stairs and opened the only window.  
She looked outside and saw the very yellow sky and the current of water that was rushing by. She also saw noticed that there was absolutely no wind and it was completely quiet except for the rushing water. She swallowed nervously, took a shaky breath, then climbed out and slowly lowered herself down the side of the building. Alexandra used the holes in the side of the building to get down to the surface of the water. She apprehensively stuck a foot in the water to test it. She gasped as the very cold water immediately soaked Thankfully, because it was a small town, the buildings weren’t far apart, so she was able to pull herself towards her house by clinging to the houses.   
After what felt like forever, she finally was able to reach her house. She was a mess and the house was a mess. The door to the house was blasted off, flooding the house, and the roof had partially caved in. Hopefully the water had drained downstairs so she could have a more or less comfortable place to hunker down from the coming storm. Because the house was already flooded, Alexandra swam through the front door and to the stairs, finally able to put her feet onto something solid. She walked up the stairs to find that the water had indeed drained to downstairs, although there was some standing water still.  
Alex walked farther into the room opened drawers for dry clothes since she didn’t want to get sick again from the cold. Thankfully she found two shirts and two pairs of shorts that were only slightly damp. She quickly changed into a new set and then went to see what she could do about the gaping hole in the roof. No matter how hard she though or how wild her ideas (honestly, dragging the bed over, sticking multiple empty boxes on top of it, and trying to push the roof back up when no one else was around is not a smart idea), there was nothing she could do. Besides, how could a skinny, four foot seven kid reach the ceiling which was at least 8 feet tall while being safe? Correct answer is they can’t. Alexandra resigned herself to becoming wet again, so she set about trying to find something in which she could store the last set of dry clothes. Alex ended up just sticking them in one of the drawers in the desk. It wasn’t a great spot, but it was better than nothing  
Soon (she estimated about half an hour since she left the shop) the rain started again, quickly turning into a downpour, and the winds picked up. Alex grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her, covering her head and the lower part of her face with it to keep the rain from biting her skin. Within seconds Alexandra was drenched to the bone. She shivered and huddled under what portion of the roof was left. It wasn’t much, but it did help a bit.  
The rain and wind continued for hours. Alexandra had been sitting in the corner, hearing the creaks and groans of the house as it was pushed back and forth by the vicious and relentless winds. Six hours into this second half of the storm is when the house started to give way. First the rest of the roof was ripped off the top of the house and carried into the swirling foam of water below. Alexandra tucked her knees to her chest and bent her head between her knees, hands pulling the blanket over to cover her whole body. Because of this, she didn’t see any of the floorboards breaking, and neither did she hear them over the winds howling about her.  
All of the sudden, the floor gave way beneath her, dropping her into the ice cold water. She shrieked and quickly surfaced, only to be pushed back down by a lard chunk of wood that had fallen from the floor. Alex scrambled, trying to push it off while attempting to untangle herself from the blanket she had so foolishly thrown over herself. She could feel her lungs throbbing, the need for air becoming overwhelming. She panicked. This was it. She was going to drown. At least she would see her mother soon.  
Right then, she gave one last shove at the board trapping her, and it moved, freeing her from its deadly snare. She shot up to the surface, taking in gasps of air. Still the rain came. Alexandra swam to the side of the house, desperately grasping the side of the house while she caught her breath. By now she was shivering so hard she was sure she was going to get hypothermia and die from that instead of drowning.  
Finally she noticed that the rain was slowly letting up. She breathed a sigh of relief. The storm was almost over and she had survived. She carried herself as high as she could go (which was to the top of the wall which had been half carried away) and collapsed like a rag doll. She was so exhausted that she couldn’t think straight. She closed her eyes and let the world around her slip away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did some research on hurricanes, and the eye of a hurricane is very windy and not quiet, and there isn’t a couple feet of water yet (at least the ones I looked up). Because I’m an author and this is a fanfic, I’m going to ignore all that research and stick with what I’ve written because I can lol.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alexandra wakes up a couple days after the hurricane, and finds herself now in the care of her cousin, Peter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another one! Saturday I will be uploading two chapters cuz chapter five is sad but the end of six is where things start to take an upswing! Also, none of this is really edited cuz I'm lazy like that, so I apologize for the errors. Someday I might go back and fix stuff, but for now, it is what it is.

Alexandra woke up to so a hard bed underneath her and a thick, dry something above her.  
“No!” she screamed, throwing off the thing covering her and rolling away from it and onto the ground. Thankfully it was not a board trapping her (like she feared), but merely a thick blanket to keep her warm. She let out a muffled sob of relief and tried to calm her racing heart.  
She heard footsteps casually coming towards her and she panicked, jumping back on the bed and pulling the blanket in front of her, hiding most of her from whoever was going to come through the door. It was a completely irrational act, but Alex just felt so jittery she didn’t know how she should react to anything anymore.  
The person in question walked in. “Alexandra?”  
Alex blinked several times, lowering the blanket from her face. It was her cousin and last known living relative, Peter. “Peter? What are you doing here? How did you find me? And why now?” She hadn’t seen him since she was seven.  
Peter looked at her uninterestedly, his curly brown hair looking like a rat had made its nest there. His gray shirt and tan shorts were wrinkled and he smelled as if he had been soaking in alcohol and drugs, which he probably had by how strong the scent was. “Um, yah, it’s me. Your mom’s will was read a week ago so I came to get you but was delayed by the storm. Once it was over I figured you’d be at the store, but the guy said he sent you home, so I got to your house and you were passed out on the wall.”  
“How long was I out?” she asked, her voice cracking from lack of use.  
“Ever since I found you a couple days. Not sure how long you were out before that.”  
A couple days?! She had to get back to work! But then she remembered that her manager had told her to stay away for a week until the water lessened significantly. Alex let herself relax a bit, falling sideways onto the hard bed. “Oh.”  
“Anyway,” Peter continued, “I’m apparently your guardian now that your mom’s dead and your dad’s MIA. We should leave soon.” With that, he walked out, leaving behind an irritated and confused Alex. How could he say that so nonchalantly? Can’t he show even a little bit of sympathy for her? Then it hit her. He was probably high on some drug or coming off of a hangover. She’d seen her dad get apathetic after each drinking spree.  
Alex laid in bed another couple minutes before sitting back up and blinking the exhaustion and tears from her eyes as the past week’s events came crashing down on her. She was not looking forward to living with her cousin. How was she supposed to get to work every day? He lives on the opposite side of town! It would be at least a twenty minute walk and it was unlikely Peter would be willing to walk her there.  
Alex looked around the small room before her eyes stopped on the chair beside the bed. It had a change of clothes which she assumed was for her. She quickly changed then walked out to look for Peter. She found him in the kitchen searching the fridge for something before closing it, apparently not finding what he had been looking for.  
“You ready to go?” he asked, startling Alex out of her thoughts.  
“Yah. Is there anything I can eat before we go? Or do I need to wait until we get to your place?” Alex asked, stomach growling.  
“Catch.” He flicked a granola bar at her. She tried to catch it, but due to her exhaustion, she missed and it hit her in the face before dropping to the ground.  
“Ow!” Alex complained. If she was expecting sympathy from her cousin, she wasn’t getting any. He simply rolled his eyes.  
“Come on. We need to go. I have somewhere to be in half an hour,” he told her bossily. As much as Alex wanted to childishly stick her tongue out at him, she refrained because she didn’t want to have to walk to his place. So instead, she settled for a sigh and nod.  
Peter led her out of the house and into the streets, which now only had an inch or so of standing water left. He started walking down the sidewalk in the direction of his house.  
“Um, don’t you have a car?” Alex asked, frowning at the thought of walking basically the length of town to get to his place.  
“Yes, but we have to stop at your workplace first,” he replied, shrugging.  
“Why?”  
“Stop asking so many questions, Alex! Can you just stop talking for one minute and just do as I say without interrogating me?” Peter growled, thoroughly irritated.  
“Sorry,” Alex snapped. “Forgive me for being curious as to why you want to go to where I work. Speaking of which, do you even know where I work?”  
“Worked, Alex.” Peter smirked  
“Wait. What do you mean ‘worked?’” The girl asked, confused. “I the manager dead? Or did he fire me?”  
Her cousin rolled his eyes. “Honestly, Alex. You can be so dense at times. Your quitting.”  
Alex stopped in shock. “I’m not quitting.”  
Peter stopped and turned to face her. “Did you honestly think you were going to be walking back and forth from my place to here just to work?” He huffed then started walking in the direction of her work.  
Alexandra jogged after him, feeling helpless. She really didn’t want to quite. What was she supposed to do with her time? Sit and twiddle her thumbs? It was summer in a week so she wouldn’t have school to keep her occupied.  
All too soon they reached the charter company building. It looked pretty beat up, but everything was still intact. The door wasn’t broken open, the roof wasn’t torn off, and the walls were still standing. Suddenly Alex was ready to leave the place behind. They really kicked her out when she could have stayed safe in this building? Maybe it was a good thing Peter was making her quit. She wasn’t sure she could ignore the grudge that was already seeping into her brain. Alex was pretty sure it was already starting to affect how she viewed her manager. Well, ex-manager soon.  
Peter opened the door and walked in, making sure Alex followed him in.  
“How may I help you two?” Her boss, Rob, walked out of the back room. “Ah, Alexandra. You’re back! And who’s this?”  
“I’m her cousin Peter,” the younger man said, introducing himself. “Alex has something she needs to say to you.” Peter narrowed his eyes at her, making sure she understood what she was supposed to do.  
Alex sighed, looked at the ground, and tucked her arms behind her back. “I have to quit. I’m moving in with my cousin and he lives across town so that would make working here too long of a walk for me. I’m sorry for the short notice.” Alex risked a glance up at Peter, who was pursing his lips unhappily. Did she do something wrong?  
Rob frowned. “I’m sorry to hear that. You will be missed. Oh! I almost forgot. I have your backpack. It’s still dry.”  
Alex finally looked up and sure enough, there it was, exactly as she had left it. She grinned. She had nearly forgotten about all of her school books which were all in there along with her homework. “Thank you for keeping it.”  
Rob nodded. “I hope you find something to keep you busy.”  
Alex opened her mouth to reply, but Peter cut her off, “I’m sure she will. Worst comes to worst she can find a wall that would be interested in talking to her. Anyway, Alex said what she needed to say so we will be off.” With that, Peter grabbed her upper arm and pulled her out of the building. Alex schooled her face into a neutral position, although she really wanted to let out the hurt from her cousin’s words.  
“Why do you have to be a pain?” Peter growled at her.  
“I did what you asked and quit my job, so what did I do wrong?” Alex asked, confused.  
“You basically told him it’s my fault you are quitting. You just have to blame everyone else. Can’t take the responsibility for your actions.”  
Alexandra was thoroughly befuddled by now. What on earth was he talking about? “Um, are we going to find your car now and go back to your place?”  
Peter sighed loudly. “I couldn’t bring my car because there’s too much water on the road, so we have to walk back.”  
Sheesh, Alex thought, yanking her arm out of Peter’s grip. Take a chill pill!  
The walk back to Peter’s apartment was silent, broken only by Peter’s sporadic, incoherent mutterings.  
After about ten minutes of this, Peter finally broke the awkward tension between us. “I have something at my apartment that I’m giving you, and you must promise to use it, got it?”  
Alexandra swallowed. “Uh, okay. Sure. What is it?”  
Peter stopped and looked at me. “It’s a boat ticket. I’m sending you to America.”


End file.
